Bringing a new brand to market after the largest corporate split in history.

Challenge

The Hewlett-Packard Company announced its intention to split into two separate entities, signaling the largest corporate demerger in history. The two resulting companies would each remain Fortune 100 industry leaders—with HP, Inc. focused on personal systems and printing and Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) focused on enterprise IT.

With a need to move fast, Hewlett-Packard tapped Siegel+Gale to help define the new brand experience for this next stage of its evolution. Our team quickly got to work on a brand separation strategy, a brand positioning and a brand identity, working rapidly to support a complicated separation.

Solution

Based on the scope outlined by HP’s Office of Separation Management, time was of the essence. In order to unlock the complexity of the demerger and to find the “true north” for the new brand, Siegel+Gale jumped into the work full tilt. With everyone, from IT, HR, product development and global marketing eager for guidance, Siegel+Gale locked in on a strategy just 45 days after initiating the program with key stakeholder sign-off.

The visual identity, which was created in parallel with the business strategy, tells a story of HPE’s brand promise—“Together we propel your business further.” That idea, coupled with the campaign “Accelerating Next,” sums up HPE’s dedication to being a true business partner to customers and delivering advanced technology solutions that transform businesses. From this, “The Element” was born—a visual platform that could move and evolve with the company. While rectangular in form, it’s a metaphor for many things: a frame to create a point of focus, the basis for a pattern and a window on partnership. At its simplest, the new visual identity is indicative of HPE’s imperative to remain agile, decisive and fast in an ever-changing world.

Results

Moving quickly and with confidence that there was significant C-level buy-in, Siegel+Gale helped deliver HPE across the globe in a condensed timeline of 120 days flat. The brand was unveiled internally to acclaim and celebration across the company, relaying a level of enthusiasm and commitment that most companies can only dream of. By the time HPE’s CEO rang the opening bell at the New York Stock Exchange on November 2nd, 2015, HPE was already well on its way into the history books as one of the most successful corporate demergers and rebrands.